Ralph Fiennes: We're in a world of dumbed-down English thanks to Twitter

Thursday 27 October 2011 11:33 BST

Old pals act: Fiennes and Liam Neeson at BFI London Film Festival awards

Ralph Fiennes said today social networking websites such as Twitter are dumbing down the English language.

The actor, 48, who does not use Twitter, believes words of more than two syllables are a challenge to some young people.

The change in modern language inspired him to create his modern-day film interpretation of Coriolanus, said Fiennes, currently playing Prospero in The Tempest at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

"We're in a world of truncated sentences, soundbites and Twitter," he said. "[Language] is being eroded - it's changing. Our expressiveness and our ease with some words is being diluted so that the sentence with more than one clause is a problem for us, and the word of more than two syllables is a problem for us.

"I hear it, too, from people at drama schools, who say the younger intake find the density of a Shakespeare text a challenge in a way that, perhaps, [students] a few generations ago maybe wouldn't have."

The star was speaking after receiving the British Film Institute Fellowship at the BFI London Film Festival awards at LSO St Lukes in Old Street, presented to him by his friend, Irish actor Liam Neeson.

Coriolanus, Fiennes's film directorial debut, was premiered at the festival last week.

He added: "I think we're living in a time when our ears are attuned to a flattened and truncated sense of our English language, so this always begs the question, is Shakespeare relevant? But I love this language we have and what it can do, and aside from that I think the themes in his plays are always relevant."

Neeson, who flew in from the US to present the award, said: "The BFI has always been special. They got in touch with me and I said I'd love to fly in. It was a nice surprise for him."

Canadian director David Cronenberg was also awarded the BFI Fellowship. We Need To Talk About Kevin was named best film, while Candese Reid won the best British newcomer award for her portrayal of a young homeless woman in Junkhearts.

Pablo Giorgelli picked up the Sutherland award from Terry Gilliam for his directorial debut Las Acacias, while celebrated director Werner Herzog won best documentary for Into The Abyss.

Other guests at the ceremony included Sam Taylor-Wood and partner Aaron Johnson, and X-Files star Gillian Anderson.

Meanwhile, Rachel Weisz was "gutted" that filming in New York for The Bourne Legacy, the latest film in the blockbuster franchise, will stop her attending the UK premiere tonight of her film The Deep Blue Sea, which is closing the festival.